Written by a lay student of the Bible. Articles focus on apologetics and key elements such as the Deity of Christ and salvation through faith in Christ alone. With many thanks to Drs Brown, White, Sade, Wood, Qureshi, Dalcour and Zacharias, and Bros Shamoun and Rogers for their excellent teaching and inspiration. All glory goes to God for any truth I am able to communicate. Any errors are mine. All Scripture text is from the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) unless otherwise stated

"Not Everyone" or "Not One?"

We interrupt our regular apologetics posts to do a brief English lesson for the benefit of our Muslim friends.

In the photo above, not every one of the sheep is actually a sheep. This is because, as you can see, one of them is a wolf.

I bring this up because Muslims frequently (and horribly) misinterpret Jesus' words in Matthew 7, where He says,

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven."

When Muslims read this verse, it seems they replace Jesus' words "Not everyone" with "no one." But that is not what Jesus said.

To try to illustrate the difference between the two phrases, let us apply it to our photo. Can anyone in his right mind claim that not one of the animals in the photo below is a sheep? No, no one can. Not every one of the animals in the photo is a sheep, because one of them is a wolf.

On the other hand, it is correct to say that not every one of the animals is a sheep. Muslims, can you see the difference now?

In the same way, what Jesus was saying in Matthew 7:21 is that not everyone who calls Him Lord is a true believer. Only those who truly follow Him are.

Muslims, if the English word "everyone" still confuses you, try replacing it with the word "all" because "all" can also mean "everyone." To wit:

“Not all who say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven." MKV (the Mari Kaimo Version) 😀